Affiliate Presidents' Council

Affiliate Presidents' Council

Sandra Barnes graduated from the University of Maryland in 1984 and worked in the General Counsel's Office at the Food and Drug Administration for five years. Since 1990, she has been in the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, representing the Department of Human Resources and local departments of social services. She has spent most of this time focusing on child abuse and neglect, representing the local departments in administrative and appellate litigation; developing policy; advising the agency and local departments on a range of child welfare issues; and drafting regulations and proposed legislation.

Alternate, American Association of Health and Human Services Attorneys (AAHHSA)

Mark Gutchen has been the Chief of Litigation at the Missouri Department of Social Services since 2002 and the Assistant General Counsel since 2009. Before working for the State of Missouri he worked for 13 years at legal aid offices in 2 different states, spent 3 years in the private practice of law in Tucson, Arizona, and clerked for the Arizona Court of Appeals in Phoenix. Mark also served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Missouri-Columbia between 1989 and 1992. Mark provides legal advice, counsel and representation to the Missouri Department of Social Services in both state child welfare and income maintenance programs.

President, Association of Administrators of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (AAICPC)

Mical Peterson currently serves as a deputy compact administrator for the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, where she works on a wide variety of tasks with the primary goal of finding permanency for Minnesota children. Peterson previously served on the AAICPC Executive Committee as a member-at-large from 2011 to 2013 when she was elected as the AAICPC President.

Born and raised in Rochester, Minnesota, Peterson attended Humboldt State University in California. After earning her degree in Child Development and Social Work, she moved to Florida before coming back to Minnesota. Peterson has been an employee of the Minnesota Department of Human Services for eight years, has worked in the Licensing Division and has experience in the private sector with adoptions and family preservation work. Five years ago, she began her work with the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children as a deputy compact administrator.

President, American Association of SNAP Directors (AASD)

Nikole Cox, SNAP Manager, Virginia Department of Social Services

Nikole Cox is currently the SNAP Manager for the Virginia Department of Social Services. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Family and Childhood Development from Virginia Tech. She has over 18 years of experience with the SNAP program from both a local agency perspective and a State agency perspective. Nikole is a co-chair for the SNAP Re-Authorization work group for AASD. She also serves on the Executive Board of AASD as a representative for the Mid-Atlantic Region, and the AASD representative on the APHSA Affiliates President’s Council.

Alternate, American Association of SNAP Directors (AASD)

David Locklear, Section Chief, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services

David has worked for the NC Department of Health and Human Services since January 2004 in several capacities; Food and Nutrition Services Policy Consultant, Program Manager, Assistant Chief of Economic and Family Services and currently serves as the Chief of Economic and Family Services with the Division of Social Services.

Prior to joining the Division, David worked in Robeson County Department of Social Services for 13 years as a case manager, fraud investigator and Food Stamp Supervisor. David serves on the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) SNAP Executive Advisory Committee as the President of the American Association of SNAP Directors (AASD) Affiliate. David is also a member of the APHSA Executive Advisory Leadership Council.

David received the AASD Distinguished Service Award for his innovative leadership for voice of change in human services field in November 2015 during the annual conference in Seattle, Washington.

David attended the University of North Carolina at Pembroke in Pembroke, NC.

President, IT Solutions Management for Human Services (ISM)

Rob St. John, Director, Office of the Chief Information Officer, State of Washington

President, National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators (NAPCWA)

Doris Tolliver, Chief of Staff, Indiana Department of Child Services

Ms. Tolliver is a strategic thinker who specializes in organizational effectiveness, change management, and business strategy development. She has worked in public and private sector and in child welfare for the past eight and a half years. Doris currently serve as the Chief of Staff for the Indiana Department of Child Services. In this role she is transforming the organizational structure and culture to integrate outcomes, technology, and strategic planning at the organization and program levels.

Ms. Tolliver's background in child welfare, human resources, and law aide her in supporting the agency Director in leading the almost 4,000 employee team at DCS and serving Indiana's youth. Doris is a licensed attorney in the state of Indiana and earned a Juris Doctor from Indiana University's Robert McKinney School of Law. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Human Resources Management from Webster University and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Davis.

President, National Association for Program Information and Performance Measurement (NAPIPM)

Jim McTague began his career with the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) over 35 years ago. Jim spent the majority of time in OTDA with the Audit Bureau. He spent his early years as a Quality Control (QC) reviewer, which allowed him the opportunity to learn about the SNAP, Public Assistance and Medicaid programs. Jim then spent a few years as a regional QC supervisor before moving to the Audit Bureau’s Central Office. After coming to the Central Office, Jim managed the Aid to Dependent Children – QC program for New York State and later the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and Maintenance of Effort (MOE) Data Collection programs for NY. Currently, Jim is the Director of Eligibility and Quality Assurance and manages the SNAP-QC and TANF/MOE Data Collection programs for NY.

Jim was elected as the NAPIPM Northeast Regional Director in 2012, Vice President in 2014 and President in 2016.

Alternate, National Association for Program Information and Performance Measurement (NAPIPM)

Chair, National Association of State Child Care Administrators (NASCCA)

Janice Molnar, New York State Office of Children and Family Services, Deputy Commissioner, Division of Child Care Services

Janice M. Molnar, Ph.D., is Deputy Commissioner, Division of Child Care Services, New York State Office of Children and Family Services. OCFS provides oversight and monitoring of more than 18,000 regulated child care providers and another 37,000 license-exempt providers in New York State. In this capacity, she has served as the Child Care Administrator for the State of New York for the past nine years. Molnar has held a number of senior positions in the public and non-profit sectors, including the City of New York (Office of the Mayor Early Childhood Education Commission, New York City Department of Youth and Community Development); private philanthropy (the Atlantic Philanthropies; the Ford Foundation); higher education (Bank Street College of Education); and others. Throughout her career, she has concentrated on program and policy issues affecting children, youth, and families. Trained as a developmental psychologist, Molnar has a background in research and evaluation, and has experience in organizational development and organizational learning, cross-sector planning and process facilitation, and evaluation and assessment of educational and human service activities both in the U.S. and internationally. She has served on several local and national boards, including the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (now Child Care Aware of America). She earned a B.A. from Northwestern University and holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University, where her dissertation focused on the impacts of different kinds of child care arrangements on selected indicators of child development.

Alternate, National Association of State Child Care Administrators (NASCCA)

Tracy Gruber, Director, Utah Department of Workforce Services

Tracy is motivated by the belief that all children have the capacity to achieve their dreams and strengthen the nation’s economy, if given the opportunity regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or economic class. This motivating force has brought her to her current position at the Utah Department of Workforce Services serving as its Director of the Office of Child Care and Senior Advisor for the Intergenerational Poverty Initiative.

In her current position, Tracy oversees the Department’s program to assist families with their child care needs so parents can seek and remain employed while ensuring quality child care for children between the ages of 0 and 17. She is also the lead researcher on a statewide initiative to measurably reduce the incidence of children who remain in the cycle of poverty. This work includes establishing programs and policies within the agency to achieve positive outcomes for families, including economic stability.

Prior to joining DWS, Tracy worked at Voices for Utah Children, as a Senior Policy Analyst and Director of State Fiscal Policy. It was while working at Voices for Utah Children that she began researching the impact intergenerational poverty has on Utah children. This research demonstrated that Utah children experiencing intergenerational poverty are not just lacking financial resources but also experience barriers and obstacles which jeopardize their overall well-being.

Her work experience includes serving as an analyst in the Illinois Senate, overseeing a public employee, retiree organization and administering the Utah Bar New Lawyer Training Program.

Chairperson, National Association of State TANF Administrators (NASTA)

Karyn Schimmels is an established leader in the area of public welfare with over 25 years of experience for both the State of Oregon and several non-profit organizations in Oregon. Karyn began her career in public service as a child welfare caseworker in a variety of casework roles, moving on to supervising caseworkers and her passion for mentoring others eventually led her into consultation, education, and training. She dedicated over 8 years providing training and education services to child welfare staff, foster parents, public health medical staff, and adoptive parents all over the state of Oregon before being appointed in the role as the Child Welfare Training Manager at Oregon DHS in 2004. She has served in this role for the past 12 years.

Karyn’s experience and dedication to workforce development has added greatly to the community of practice around training that exists today for Oregon DHS. Her experience with managing and leading training efforts has been instrumental to several successful statewide implementation efforts for training and her organization. She is a frequent public speaker in the areas of motivation, and inspiration, and she has served in leadership roles on many boards over the years with an aptitude for board governance. One of her greatest passions is leadership and team building.

Karyn holds a B.A. in Sociology from Washington State University and earned her Masters Degree in Public Administration from Lewis and Clark College in 1992.

She is the recipient of the Alumni Woman of Distinction Award from Washington State University in 2009, and the Governor’s Region 2 Volunteer of the year award in 2010.

Alternate, National Staff Development and Training Association (NSDTA)

Stacey D. Hardy-Chandler, PhD, JD, LCSW, Dr. Hardy-Chandler combines her background/training in social work (M.S.W., 1988), clinical psychology (Ph.D., 1994), law (J.D., 2006) to promote transformative experiential learning, cultural humility, leadership and organizational development. She came to George Mason University and then to Fairfax County after having served as the Director of Field Education for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Social Work for nearly 13 years. While at UNLV, she was administratively active in such diverse capacities as Assistant Director of the School of Social Work, Graduate Coordinator, and Child Welfare Title IV-E Coordinator. She developed the curriculum for UNLV’s forensic social work certificate program which she also coordinated from 2005 to 2011. She is a past-president of the National Organization of Forensic Social Work and currently serves on the NOFSW Executive Board and the APHSA-NSDTA Executive Advisory Council.

Dr. Hardy-Chandler’s diverse background and experience converges perfectly in her current role as the Director of Professional and Organizational Development for the Fairfax County (VA) Government, Department of Family Services.

Chair, National Council of Local Human Service Administrators

Paul Fleissner, Director, Olmsted County (MN) Community Services

Paul Fleissner has worked in human services for over 30 years. Over his career Paul has worked in the non-profit sector, and also for the state and county. Paul is a social worker who also has an accounting degree. In 2003 Paul was appointed the Director of Community Services for Olmsted County. The Community Services Department includes social services, public assistance, community corrections, the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, and veteran services.

Paul’s work has focused on consumer-focused integrated services over the years. His most recent opportunities have been integrating the Housing and Redevelopment Authority into a human services agency and leveraging the tools and resources of both to build supportive housing services for the vulnerable populations served in our community.

Paul is the past president of the Minnesota Association of County Social Service Administrators (MACSSA). For a number of years Paul served as the legislative committee co-chair for MACSSA. He currently serves on the board of the National Association of County Human Service Administrators (NACHSA) as well as on the Locals Council Executive Board of the Association of Public Human Services Administrators (APHSA). Paul is on the Olmsted County United Way Board.

National Council of Local Human Service Administrators

Kate Garvey, Director, Department of Community and Human Services, City of Alexandria (VA) Department of Community and Human Services

Kate Garvey is the Director of the Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS). Under the guidance of the Assistant City Manager, Ms. Garvey directs the DCHS Center for Operations, Communications, Organizational Development, and the Centers for Adult Services, Child and Family Services, and Economic Support. These programs employ more than 650 staff with a budget of $89 million. Ms. Garvey joined the City of Alexandria in 2014. She came to the City from Montgomery County, MD, where she served as Chief of Youth and Family Services/Social Services Director. Prior to her tenure in Montgomery County, she served as Executive Deputy Director for the Allegheny County Department of Human Services.